Yang Hao focused all his attention, listening patiently to every detail that Hun Yuan Zi was teaching. Indeed, this was an extraordinarily exquisite sword technique. Yang Hao was so captivated that he even forgot his steps, standing there motionless, silently reciting the essence of the sword technique over and over again.
But strangely, no more golden pearls struck Yang Hao’s body. As he continued to recite the sword technique, the five flying swords around him began to spin and dance. These swords seemed to have gained independent consciousness, flying around him in strange trajectories. No matter how densely the golden pearls rained down, the five flying swords whirled like wheels, guarding him so thoroughly that not even a breeze could penetrate.
This was the wondrous aspect of the “Yu” (control) sword technique. Although Hun Yuan Zi usually acted in a chaotic manner, he was still a direct disciple of the Dan Ding dual cultivation sect. During the heyday of the Dan Ding sect thousands of years ago, every cultivator knew of their dual mastery: one was their famed alchemical prowess, where practitioners could ascend toward immortality merely by consuming pills instead of cultivating through breath; the other was their mastery of flying swords. The sword techniques of the Dan Ding sect were numerous and bizarre, but all variations stemmed from a core five-character technique, with the “Yu” technique being the foundational method for defense.
Legend told of hundreds of breath-cultivation sect practitioners once besieging a single Dan Ding disciple, attacking with nearly a hundred flying swords. The sky was filled with gleaming blades, yet the Dan Ding disciple used only the “Yu” technique, wielding a single sword alone, and managed to withstand the attack for several hours. This illustrated the formidable power of this sword technique.
Now, although Yang Hao had just begun learning, the sword technique itself was incredibly powerful. His five flying swords protected his body so completely that any golden pearls thrown at him were deflected. After a while of this standoff, the golden-armored beetle, being clever, realized it couldn’t break through the defense and simply stopped its attack and turned to flee.
The creature was indeed massive. As it dashed away, the ground trembled and the skies darkened.
Seeing the armored beetle finally retreat, Yang Hao relaxed completely and plopped down onto the ground. Though it seemed effortless, he had poured all his energy into controlling the flying swords, leaving him utterly exhausted.
X13 was indeed a fickle character. The moment the golden beetle fled, it immediately swooped down from the sky and, somehow acquiring a net, began swiftly collecting the golden pearls scattered on the ground.
These golden pearls were hard-earned by Yang Hao, won at the cost of many injuries. Though he lacked the strength to move, he weakly reminded X13, “Make sure you collect every single one. Don’t miss any. If there are extras, we can sell them.”
“Just enough will do,” X13 replied while weighing the pearls. Though there were many, they barely reached ten kilograms.
After collecting all the golden pearls, X13 dumped them onto the ground. From its round body emerged two mechanical arms, which began using laser beams to melt the gold.
“What are you doing?” Yang Hao frowned.
“Making your cauldron.” Previously, Yang Hao had already uploaded the blueprints for the red-gold furnace into X13’s central processor. Before Amanda gave X13 to Yang Hao, she had specially enhanced the robot’s forging capabilities, so crafting a few cauldrons was a simple task for X13.
But they were still on the planet Suimian—there was no need to rush, and Yang Hao was puzzled by X13’s sudden eagerness. “We can make it back on Laimon. What’s gotten into you today?”
X13 quickly melted all the pearls, shaping the molten gold into a specific form. It hesitated slightly before replying, “It’s better to do it now. If we fail to complete it, we might never make it back to Laimon.”
Startled, Yang Hao’s first thought was that Hun Yuan Zi and X13 were plotting something. “What’s going on? Old man! What trick are you up to now?”
To his surprise, Hun Yuan Zi also looked indignant. “What trick? I don’t know either. X13, why wouldn’t we be able to return to Laimon?”
Though answering, X13 didn’t pause in its work, clearly sensing the urgency of the situation. “Golden-armored beetles are extremely dangerous creatures.”
“Dangerous? I still chased it off,” Yang Hao said proudly.
But X13 remained grim. “Golden-armored beetles are social creatures—they thrive or perish together. Usually, aside from mining minerals, they all live together in the same place.”
“So what? We still chased one away earlier,” Yang Hao said, regaining a bit of strength after resting for a while. But as he spoke, he sensed something amiss—X13 seemed to be hiding something. “Social? You mean they live in groups?”
“Yes,” X13 replied, nearly finishing the golden cauldron.
“So when one is attacked, they all retaliate together?” Yang Hao recalled pack animals like wolves, which often launched collective counterattacks.
“Exactly!” X13’s voice was heavy. “A golden-armored beetle colony consists of at least hundreds of beetles. If they start hunting someone, no one can escape.”
Before the robot could say more, Yang Hao’s sensing ability already detected a surge of golden-armored beetles approaching like a tide. Their speed was incredible—they could reach him in an instant.
Yang Hao now understood. No wonder the beetle had thunderously fled—it wasn’t running away, but returning to its nest to summon reinforcements.
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?!” Yang Hao, suddenly finding his strength returning, angrily confronted X13. If he had known about the potential for such a massive retaliation, he would never have attacked the beetle in the first place.
“You told me not to be too pessimistic and not to mention bad things,” X13 replied, sounding genuinely wronged. “I’ve finished making the cauldron. It’s ready for refining pills.”
“It’s too late now,” Hun Yuan Zi’s voice was unusually grave.
Indeed, all around Yang Hao, dozens of massive armored beetles had already gathered. The one he had driven away was among them, but it was actually one of the smaller ones. The most terrifying among them stood nearly two stories tall, its shell gleaming with a golden-red hue. Previously, one armored beetle had left Yang Hao battered and bruised. Now, facing dozens of times more, it could very well be a death sentence.
“Give the medicinal ingredients to X13 for pill refining!” Hun Yuan Zi anxiously shouted. He must have sensed the life-or-death crisis, realizing that the Dan Ding sect was once again on the brink of annihilation.
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